Sword and shield. (Clinton, Miss.) 1885-1888, 1887-02-12


And what is there to prevent his lasting
for three thousand years in this atmosphere
| should like to know?" asked Good. I'll
only the air is cold enough, flesh and blood
will keep as fresh as New Zealand mutton
forever, and Heaven knows it is cold enough
here. The sun never gets in here; no ami.
NAL comes here to tear or destroy No doubt
his slave, of whom he speaks on the map
took off the clothes and left him. He could
not have buried him alone. Look here" he
went on, STOPPING down and picking up a
queer-shaped bone scraped at the end into a
sharp point, there is the 'cleft-bOne' that he
used to draw the map with"
We gazed astoniShed for a moment, for
getting our own mserieS in this extraordina-
ry and. as it seemed to US, semi-miraculous
sight
"Ay," said Sir Henry, ''and here is where
he got his ink FROM" and he pointed to a
small wound on the dead mans left arm.
did ever man see such thing before?'
There was no longer any doubt about the
matter, which | confess for my own part
perfectly appalled, me. There he sat the
dead man, whose directions, written some
ten generatonsago, had led US to this spot
There in my own hand was the rude pen
with which he had written them, and there
round his neck was the crucifx his dying
lips had kissed. Gazing at him my imagina-
tion could reconstruct the whole scene, the
Taveler dying of cold and starvation, and
yet striving to convey the great secret he had
discovered to the world-the awful lOneli-
ness of his death, Of which the evidence sat
before u.s. 1t even seemed to me that l
nnIliI ir,h hic o. nrlxy
a likeness to those of my poor friend Silyes-
tire his descendant, who had died twenty
years ago in my arms, but perhaps that was
fancy. At any rate, there he sat, sad me
mento of the fate that so often overtakes
those who penetrate into the unknown; !;
and there probably he will still sit, crowned
with the dread majesty OF death, for centu.
rieS yet unborn, to startle the eyes of wand
erers like ourselves ii any such should ever
come again to invade his loneliness The
thing overpowered us already nearly done
to death as we were with cold and hunger.
LET us CO." said Sir Henry, in low
voice; ''stay, we will give him companion"
and lifting up the dead body of the Hotten-
tot Ventyogel, he placed it near that of the
old don. Then he stopped down, and with a
jerk broke the rotten string of the crucifix
round his neck, for his fingers We're too cold
to attempt to untasten it. | believe that he
still has it. | took the pen, and it is before
me rs write-SOmetimes l sign my name
with if.
Then leaving those two, the proud white
man OF past age, and the poor HettentOC,
to keep their eternal vigil in the midst of the
eternal SHOWS, we crept out of the cave into
the welcome sunshine and resumed our
path, wondering in our hearts how many
hours it would be before we were even as
they are.
When we had gone about half mile we
came to the edge of the plateau, for the nip
pie of the mountain did not rise out of its
exact center, though from the desert side it
seemed to do so. What lay below us we
could not see, for the landscape was wreath
ed in billows of morning mist. Presently,
however, the higher layers of mist cleared a
little, and revealed some five hundred yards
beneath US, at the end of a long slope of
green grass, through which stream was
Nor was this all. BY the stream,
basking in the morning sun, stood and lay
group of from ten to fifteen large antelopes
-at that distance we could not see what
they were.
The sight filled US with an unreaSOning
Joy. There was food in plenty if only we
could get it. Tho beasts were fully six hum
dred yards off, a very long shot, and one not
to be depended on when ones life hung on
the results.
Rapidly we discussed the advisability of
trying to stalk the game, but finally reluc-
tantly dismissed it. 70 begin with-the
wind M faryo In 1rth
should be certain to be perceived, however
careful we were against the binding back
ground of snow, which we should be obliged
10 traverse.
''Well, we must have try from where we
are," said Sir Henry
(which shall it be, Quatemain, the re-
oeating rifles or the expresses
Here again was question. The Winches-
er repeaters- of which we had two, limbo
"a carrying poor VentvogePs as well as his
)Wn-were sighted up to thousand yards,
whereas the expresses were only sighted to |
hTee hundred and fifty, beyond which dis
ance shooting with them was more or less
5uess-work. On the other hand, if they did |
lit, the express bullets being expanding, |
we're much more likely to bring the game |
i0wn. 1t was a knotty point, but made up |
NY mind that we must risk it and use the /
LET each of us take the buck opposite to /
lin. Aim well at the point of the shoulder, |
md high up" said l. ''and Umbopa do you
i've the word, SO that we may all fire to-
,ether."
Then came pause, each man aiming his
evel best, as indeed one is likely to do when
ne knows that life depends upon the shot.
"FireY said Umbopa, in Zulu, and at al
most the same instant the three rifles rang
ut loudly; three clouds of smoke hung for
moment before us, and hundred echoes
Vent flying away over the silent snow. Pre-
emily the smoke cleared, and reyealed-oh,
oy! La great buck lying on its back and
licking fuTiously in its death agony. We
ave yell of triumph-we were saved, we
hould not starve. Weak as we were, we
lshed down the intervening slope of snow,
nd in ten minutes.from the time of firing,
heanimaps heart and liver were lying smok-
ag before us. But now a new difficulty
rose; we had no fuel, and therefore could j
lake no fire to cook them at. We gazed at
ach other with dismay.
"Starving men must not be fanciful," said !
Iood; 1--WE must eat raw meat.
There is no way out of the dilemma, and
ur gnawing hunger made the proposition |
.ss distasteful than it otherwise would have
cen. So we took the heart and liver and